So far we have chartered
the history since the formation of the club, up until the
end of the 83/84 season.

We would be grateful to
anyone who can add to anything written here. Apart from
pointing out any inaccuracies, we would be pleased to
receive contributions so that this history can be
"fleshed out" even more. For that reason, the
details on this page are likely to be changed as more
information is unearthed.

The 84/85 season kicked
off with much anticipation of better things to come. The
league had been renamed the Gola League and the Bees were
buzzing! They lost their first game. And their second.
The next two games were victorious, however, one of which
included Enfield. The return match against Enfield had
Barnet losing 3-0 with just over twenty minutes
remaining. Barnet woke up, and snatched three goals to
force a draw. Due to injuries and inconsistent results,
Barnet hovered between mid-table and the relegation zone.

The FA Cup provided some
relief as Barnet secured their first ever victory against
Boston. Their First Round opponents, Plymouth, looked
like they could be beaten, as they were bottom of the
Third Division. However, they had just appointed a new
manager and, as is so often the case in these situations,
their game improved enough to dispatch Barnet 3-0.

Off the pitch, trouble
was brewing. For some time, there had been occasions
where there had not been enough money to pay the players.
By the autumn of 1984 the problem had become so acute
that there was pressure to sell some of the players as
creditors were threatening legal action. The club were
also unable to run the Social Club, which was an
important source of income, due to some technicality with
the brewers. Barry Fry took the initiative and secured a
loan on his own house to buy the brewers off.

Gary Phillips was sold,
for £5000, to Brentford. Nuneaton also offered £4000
for Nicky Evans, which Fry had no choice but to accept,
but Evans refused to leave Barnet so the deal was called
off. Money was so tight that the BFCSA held collections
to help pay for the players' away trips. Both the coach
and physio left as economy measures. Meanwhile the Inland
Revenue was chasing money owed to them.

Santa Visits
Underhill

Barry Fry was
responsible for so many things at the club, he even
became involved in the ground keeping. Early on Christmas
Day the Police were called to Underhill as local
residents had heard and seen strange things. Eight
policemen were immediately sent the half-mile or so down
the hill to the ground, to investigate. They encountered
a man driving a tractor round the pitch. According to
Barry Fry, the following words were exchanged.

Policeman: "Oi!
You've done thousands of pounds worth of damage to this
pitch, you maniac."

Fry: "Of course I
haven't. It isn't worth two bob!"

Policeman: "Can you
come this way sir?"

Fry: "I am Barry
Fry, the Manager."

Policeman: "And I
am Father Christmas!"

Bye Bye Fry

Shortly after this
example of dedication to the club, it was announced that
Barry Fry had gone. He was the new manager of Maidstone
United - also of the Gola League.

The replacement was
Roger Thompson. He had played for Barnet over 100 times
in the sixties, before taking coaching roles at two USA
sides - which both folded...

Barnet descended into
the familiar area of the relegation zone once more.
Injuries plagued the side, and in one game, against
Yeovil, goalkeeper Steve Waller played with a broken arm!
(Interestingly, up front for Yeovil were Ian Botham, more
famous for his abilities to hit small red balls a long
way with a lump of wood, and Colin Barnes, whom Barnet
had argued with Torquay over the previous season.)

In March Barnet faced a
winding up order, brought by the Inland Revenue and
Brewers Whitbread and Watneys. Things looked bleak until
a mysterious benefactor stepped in and bailed the club
out - paying off all its debts.

Results improved for the
remainder of the season. In their last thirteen matches
Barnet lost only once and conceded four goals. The last
game of the season was against Wealdstone, who had
already won the league and were due to take on Boston in
the FA Trophy final. 1300 people watched Barnet stuff
them 7-0 - Nicky Evans scoring four and the other three
by Steve Mahoney.

Barnet finished in 15th
place, only one point behind Maidstone - Barry Fry's new
team. In the euphoria, the mysterious benefactor who had
bailed out the club agreed to become the new chairman.
His name was Stan Flashman.

Next Page

Meanwhile, Barnet's form
in the league was not good, especially at home. The last
straw for Flashman was a 1-0 home defeat by Wycombe in
the FA Trophy, just before Christmas. Flashman went
straight to the dressing room and dismissed Thompson.
This was, perhaps, somewhat unfair as Barnet had a fairly
comfortable mid-table position and there were more
injuries than usual. Perhaps the crowd chanting
"Thompson Out" during the game had influenced
Flashman. But any chairman or manager can tell you that
these chants occur every now and then...